What's New: Nissan's first commercial vehicle for the U.S. market is a full-size van built at its Canton, Mississippi, truck factory alongside the Titan and Armada. The NV addresses the weaknesses of a traditional van by starting with a pickup cab (though in the end the NV shares little with Titan). This eases ingress/egress, improves comfort and cabin utility, and gives better access for service technicians. Details reflect good research into how such vans are really used, such as wear-resistant seat bolsters and wide steps at all doors. There's a high roof model for those who need walk-in space. Standard roof models suit those who need to fit the 20-foot long truck through standard garage doors.

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Tech Tidbit: It looks like a Titan from the B-post forward, but the NV shares no sheetmetal and needed its own dedicated, fully boxed frame to fulfill its mission. Recirculating ball steering replaces the rack-and-pinion found in Titan/Armada and Nissan claims a best-in-class turning circle of 45.2 feet curb-to-curb.

Driving Character: It's a rear-drive-only commercial van, but the NV feels more like driving a large pickup or SUV. Brakes are firm, visibility is good (there's a rear-view camera option if you don't have rear windows, and parking sensors if you don't opt for that in-dash screen for telematics/navigation), the seating position is comfortable, and the steering seemed well-weighted in the three examples we drove, though Nissan cautioned that it's still tuning the system.

Favorite Detail: The rear-door hinges are stout, because owners complained about durability in competitor vehicles, and open in two stages—first to 90 degrees (so it won't swing into traffic) and then wide, to 243-degrees, with rubber bumpers to protect the metal.

Driver's Grievance: It ain't much to look at on the outside—that long nose makes it the Cyrano of big vans. At least Nissan includes a 70 square-foot graphics "wrap" to the buyer's design as part of the base price.

The Bottom Line: More than just a new van, NV launches Nissan's new commercial vehicles division, which will expand in 2013 to include both a smaller NV200 van, and then an electric-powered delivery vehicle. Why start with a big van? "There is no more dissatisfied customer than the people who drive [commercial vans] all day long," asserts Larry Dominique, vice president of product planning. "Most users hate their vans." The company's ambitions are modest: It won't project sales volume, and while many variations on the van foundation are possible, the range will stay limited until Nissan proves it can profit in the segment. Dominique said the NV is the most-researched vehicle in the company's history, and—as anyone who's had to drive a van on the job can attest—it offers a lot that users will appreciate. Ford and GM have long had a lock on this business; at first, the NV is unlikely to seem much of a threat, but Detroit has seen such a scenario more than once and we expect some response to this new competitor.